Indonesian train crash kills at least 31, injures dozens; some bodies still trapped

Indonesian train crash kills at least 31

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A train crash in central Indonesia killed at least 31 people and injured dozens Saturday, many of them critically, officials and witnesses said.

The toll was expected to rise with some bodies still trapped in the mangled wreckage.

The accident occurred near Petarukan, a city on the northern coast of Central Java province, at around 3 a.m. (0800 GMT; 9 p.m. EDT Friday) as many passengers were sleeping, witnesses told TVOne.

A train from the capital, Jakarta, slammed into a train sitting idle at the station, causing severe damage to both.

The death toll had reached 31 by midmorning and another 28 people were injured, many with bad burns and broken bones, said Lt. Gen. Ito Sumardi, chief of the detective unit for the national police.

Meanwhile, another passenger train crashed in the town of Solo at around 4 a.m., said Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan, adding data was still being collected about casualties.

An official at a public hospital who identified himself only as Peter told Metro TV and El Shinta that one person had died in that crash.

Indonesia — with a reputation for poor safety standards and maintenance — has been hit by a series of plane, train and ferry accidents in recent years that have left hundreds dead.

Ervan said it was not yet clear what caused the first, more deadly crash.

“We’re still investigating to see if it was due to negligence of the driver or because signaling equipment on one of the trains was faulty,” he said.